SP-100 on safari

Henry Falkner wrote:

Good that the long zoom and the red dot sight work as advertised - but the mechanism should not have broken. That looks like a design feature never tested in earnest.

The DPR specs for the SP-100ee describe the Image Stabilisation as 'Optical'. My experience with IS on the SH-50 and SH-1 suggests - 3-axis IS helps with focussing at the long end, and 5-axis works better still. YouTube video comparisons suggest that 'optical' IS means 'in the lens', and it appears to be more effective than 2-axis IS on the sensor. Your experience with 3 out of 4 shots in focus compares to mine with Gannets In Flight on my 24x zoom pocket P&S jobs, and should be about par for the course.

From what I've read in the 12 years or so I've been hanging around here, lens based IS tends to work better at longer distances than sensor based IS.  On DSLRs with optical viewfinders, lens based IS will stabilize the viewfinder.  Up until the 5 axis sensor IS came out, it was conventional wisdom that lens based IS worked better for shooting movies.

On the other hand, for mirrorless and DSLR cameras, sensor based IS work on all lenses, and you don't have to buy each lens with IS in it.  With electronic viewfinders, many cameras have the option to run IS when the shutter is 1/2 pressed, so that you can get a stabilized view.

In terms of specs, my main gripe with the SP-100 is that it isn't weather sealed (same issue with my Stylus-1).  And for many things, having a smaller camera (with less zoom range) trumps a bigger camera.  It depends on how often you need those long zoom cameras.

Regarding DSLR users - I remember a guy on the Devonport ferry who spent the whole 10 minute trip selecting lenses, never getting a shot. I think the priority of such guys is just that - to be seen selecting lenses.

Since I have upgraded cameras over the years, when I'm doing the DSLR/mirrorless thing, I now carry 2 bodies with different lenses attached, or even rarely 3 bodies (one with a wide angle zoom lens, one with a telephoto zoom lens, and a camera with a fast prime lens for low light/no flash).  I know precisely where each camera is, and I pick the appropriate camera out of the bag without taking my eyes off of the subject.  That can be heavy of course, and expensive (though often times by the time I upgrade, the previous cameras don't have much resale value).

However, that being said, I do also prefer to have the single camera with a long zoom range and not take the shoulder bag of doom.

But when I must bring home the shots, I do gear up in case something happens.  In my last renaissance faire, the video camera fell off of the tripod, and it broke one of the batteries, which was a problem covering the whole day.  Fortunately, I had brought my older video camera and E-M5, and was able to use both of those to capture videos when my main camera ran out of juice.

Your SP-100ee should still be under guarantee. If my experience with Olympus (Is 1000: Film transport, C-750UZ: dust suction) is still valid, the repair of your red dot sight lock mechanism may very well include an improvement of the design.

FWIW, I just sent in my E-5 for the cleaning under the extended warranty (one month before the warranty expired), and it was in the repair state for 2 full weeks (plus a few days for Olympus to get around to noticing that the camera was there).  My previous trip to warranty repair only took about 4 days once it had been registered.  So if you send it in, be prepared to be without the camera for about a month.